Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 16, 2026
Dried Blood Spot Collection of Health Biomarkers to Maximize Participation in Population Studies
Published on: January 28, 2014
Evolving Insights Regarding Biomarkers to Better Manage Older Adults With Cardiovascular Disease
Mohamad B Moumneh1, Daniel E Forman2,3, Abdulla A Damluji4,5
1Inova Center of Outcomes Research, Inova Schar Heart and Vascular, Falls Church, VA, United States.
Insights
Interpreting cardiac biomarkers in older adults requires understanding age-related changes. This review aids clinicians in diagnosing acute conditions and assessing long-term risks for elderly patients.
Area of Science:
- Geriatric Medicine
- Cardiology
- Biomarker Research
Background:
- Aging impacts cardiac structure and function, increasing cardiovascular disease and geriatric syndromes.
- Elevated circulating biomarkers in older adults may not indicate acute disease.
- Clinicians face challenges interpreting biomarker results in elderly patients for diagnosis and prognosis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review anticipated findings and mechanisms for common cardiovascular biomarkers in older adults.
- To provide guidance on interpreting biomarker concentrations in acute care and ambulatory settings.
- To discuss biomarker interpretation for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and geriatric syndromes.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of cardiovascular biomarkers in aging.
- Analysis of biomarker concentrations in acute and ambulatory care settings.
- Examination of prognostic biomarkers and those relevant to geriatric syndromes.
Main Results:
- Specific guidance is provided for interpreting cardiac troponins and natriuretic peptides in older adults.
- Biomarker interpretation strategies for acute myocardial infarction and heart failure are presented.
- Data on prognostic biomarkers and those for geriatric syndromes are discussed.
Conclusions:
- Circulating biomarkers are crucial for diagnosing and prognosing cardiovascular disease in older adults.
- Biomarkers also play a role in managing geriatric syndromes and treatment risk assessment.
- Understanding age-related biomarker changes is key for accurate clinical interpretation.
Background:
Aging is associated with subclinical changes in cardiac structure and function as well as an increase in prevalent cardiovascular disease and geriatric syndromes such as frailty and sarcopenia. This can result in levels of cardiac-specific and non-cardiac-specific circulating biomarkers that are frequently above normal range concentrations established in healthy middle-age general population cohorts in the absence of acute disease. Without this recognition, clinicians may be challenged to interpret biomarker results in older adults in the setting of diagnosing an acute illness or for longer term prognostication.
Content:
In this review, we provide anticipated findings, their suggested underlying mechanism, as well as interpretation of concentrations for the common cardiovascular biomarkers including cardiac troponins and natriuretic peptides in the acute care and ambulatory settings. Specifically, information to interpret biomarkers in the setting of possible acute myocardial infarction and heart failure is presented. We also present data for interpreting results in older adults with other well-known prognostic biomarkers, as well as biomarkers with application to geriatric syndromes.
Summary:
Circulating biomarkers, despite challenges in interpretation in older adults relative to younger adults, play a critical role in the diagnosis and prognosis of cardiovascular disease and have additional roles in geriatric syndromes and assessing risk of harm from specific treatments.
Related Concept Videos
01:19Blood Studies for Cardiovascular System II: CRP, Hcy, and Cardiac Natriuretic Peptide Markers
These markers indicate stress or strain on the heart muscle:
Natriuretic Peptides (BNP)
Cardiac myocytes produce these hormones in response to ventricular stretching...
01:20Blood Studies for Cardiovascular System I: Cardiac Biomarkers
The essential diagnostic tools for detecting myocardial necrosis and monitoring individuals suspected of having acute coronary syndrome (ACS) include:
Troponins
Troponins, particularly cardiac troponins I and T, are the most precise and sensitive markers of myocardial injury. They are detectable within 4-6 hours of myocardial injury and remain...
01:27Pharmacodynamics in Geriatric Patients: Effects of Age
01:26Atherosclerosis III: Management
01:30Coronary Artery Disease I: Introduction
01:15Drug Dosing: Geriatric Patients